EDUCATION Teacher plans to speak to parents...

EDUCATION

Teacher plans to

speak to parents

Mary Letterman, the former headmaster of Mariners Christian

School, announced last week she plans to speak to parents and

teachers Feb. 8 about the sequence of events leading to her firing

earlier this month. The school board that fired her held its own

meeting for parents and teachers Jan. 20, but board members could not

legally disclose the reasons behind her departure.

Letterman said she trusts the board’s judgment to make decisions

for the best interest of the school, but she said she felt somewhat

slighted because trustees wrote a letter to the school community

stating that it was a mutual decision they’d prayed over. She’s still

unclear about the reasons she was fired, she said.

* UC Irvine students participated in a candlelight vigil Wednesday

to commemorate the one-month anniversary of the Dec. 26 tsunami in

South Asia. Speeches by professors and members of various relief

organizations were followed by cultural dances and a one-minute

moment of silence.

“It was a solemn atmosphere because people were reflective and

thought of all the lives that were lost,” said UC Irvine Volunteer

Center Director Edgar Dormitorio, one of about 70 participants. “But

there’s also a sense of hope that we can follow through with raising

money for the victims.”

COSTA MESA

Planning for more

green in the city

The Planning Commission voted Monday in favor of rezoning a 5-acre

parcel at the Fairview Developmental Center from high-density

residential to institutional/recreational, despite objections from

state officials. The state owns the property and may sell it to help

plug an $8-billion budget deficit, but the city controls the zoning.

The city council still must vote on the zoning change and will take

up the issue Feb. 22.

* Tel Phil Enterprises, which has operated the popular weekend

swap meet at the Orange County Fairgrounds for 35 years, will keep

running the swap meet for at least the next five years. The fair

board on Thursday gave Tel Phil the right to negotiate a five-year

lease with a five-year option to operate the Orange County Market

Place.

Getting a lease inked took more than two years because of problems

with the bidding process the first time around. In the second round

of bids, Tel Phil was the only company to submit a proposal.

* Orange County’s Pacific Symphony announced Wednesday the dates

and locations of its first-ever European tour.

The tour will run from March 20 to 30, 2006, and cover three

countries and nine cities, beginning in Munich, Germany. A recent

$750,000 donation from longtime symphony supporters Sandy and John

Daniels was a major catalyst.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Coach gets fast ball of cash

A jury on Thursday awarded Corona del Mar High School baseball

coach $700,000 in damages in his defamation and malicious prosecution

lawsuit against the parent of a former player.

The jury ruled that Newport Coast physician Marc Martinez acted

with malice in his two prior suits against varsity coach John Emme

and in comments he made to the national media. Martinez pulled his

son, J.D., off the varsity team in 2001, claiming that Emme hurt his

son’s college chances and damaged his arm by forcing him to throw too

many pitches.

* A superior court judge this week decided to keep in Orange

County the retrial of three men in a high-profile gang-rape case.

He denied defense attorneys’ claims that publicity has tainted the

jury pool available for the retrial of Kyle Nachreiner and Keith

Spann, both 20, and 19-year-old Greg Haidl, son of former Orange

County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl. The trial and final stages of

jury selection are set to start Monday.